The invention concerns a device for sucking off specified surface areas on powder-coated vehicle wheels.
Vehicle wheels, particularly light metal wheels, are today mainly powder-coated. First, in a powder-coating station, the appropriately prepared wheels are coated with powder coating, which is then baked in in a baking oven. It is generally unavoidable that during the powder-coating process all those surfaces of the vehicle wheels which face the device which applies the powder are coated with powder coating. However, this is not wanted, because certain surfaces, particularly the ring surfaces which surround the fixing holes and the surface of the hub hole, should remain uncoated as far as possible.
Until now, therefore, the appropriate surfaces have been freed of the powder coating by manual work. Alternatively, the vehicle wheels are masked appropriately before they enter the powder-coating station, for instance by inserting balls in the fixing holes of the vehicle wheels. However, this masking process, like the later removal of the mask after the coating with powder, had to be carried out as time-consuming and therefore expensive manual work.